Robe ROBIN 300 LEDWashes at Beresford Hotel, Australia

Lighting designer Andy Mutton, from Lightning Lighting in Melbourne, Australia, has specified 14 Robe ROBIN 300 LEDWash moving lights for a new lighting installation at the Beresford Hotel nightspot in Surrey Hills, Sydney, New South Wales.

This is the first club/live music installation for these fixtures and it's in the Beresford' 600-capacity Upstairs venue, which has just been refurbished by new owners, Merivale.

Mutton was asked to deliver a full lighting technical package -- which also features eight Robe ROBIN 300E Spots -- all supplied by Robe's Australian distributor ULA - -three Giga strobes, and a High End Road Hog console for control.

The lighting has to cover the stage, dance floors and seating areas for a variety of shows and events, from rock bands to DJ sets to corporate events. It needed to be able to create atmosphere, mood and excitement whatever the occasion, and also the fixtures needed to be fast to keep pace with some of the DJ sets.

Anything too large or bulky was out, as the headroom is only 16.4'.

The stage is in the corner of the L-shaped room, so the fixture positions are not symmetrical and the LEDWashes are spread out over the room.

It was the first time that Mutton had actually used the ROBIN 300 LEDWash. "It's a great fixture, with heaps of output and a good zoom," he says, adding that he likes the fact you can only see one color coming out of the units due to their refined and homogenized light engine, a feature of the Cree multichip technology used across the entire current generation of Robe's range of LED fixtures. "This was important," he explains, "because 'multicolored' heads distract from the decor and furnishings of the venue."

He says that to see the source and the beam as one color is a "way more creative" experience which adds to the whole process of building an imaginative and meaningful show. He also likes the wide range of whites -- warm white, cool white, steel white, dirty white, lavender white, etc., -- effectively "a white for every skin tone."

The ROBIN 300E Spots were selected primarily for their wide zoom... 40 degrees which is a vital function to optimize lighting effects and drama in low ceilinged venues.

"This fixture has some good functions," says Mutton, "It lets you program half colors and the focus allows a hard edge to be put on the color wheel so the colors split nicely." He qualifies this by saying that this is not typical of all moving spots and that half color to another half color is a good chase for live music applications.

The venue is all about live music, so the lights need to complement the beat, dynamics and changes as much as possible.

Mutton has been a Robe user since 2004 and so is well placed to comment on the brand and its innovation. "Robe technology is solid, it holds up to constant movement. The LED fixtures are producing colors I haven't seen before and this makes stages look fresh and invigorating," he concludes.